


The Element Games

by Enneara



Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: Foursome - F/M/M/M, Multi, Post-Canon, Soul Bond, how am I the first person to use this ship tag?, the Kell/Rhy is platonic...ish, they just love each other a lot ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 06:49:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14279361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enneara/pseuds/Enneara
Summary: ‘“Ever thought about what it’d be like to be with both of them together?”Alucard flashed her a look as if she’d suggested something scandalous, immediately followed by a look that saidyes.’In which Lila and Alucard make a bet, and Lila wins.





	The Element Games

**Author's Note:**

> Because with protagonists this hot, I couldn’t believe no one had yet written a foursome? At least, no one’s used the tag yet. So here it is. It’s called The Element Games because a) I thought that was hilarious, and b) in my head, each of them corresponds to one: Rhy is earth, Kell is air, Lila is fire and Alucard is water. Post-canon, so spoilers for everything.
> 
> (The Kell/Rhy aspect doesn’t go beyond kissing, and is compatible with them not necessarily being into each other that way, just loving each other a lot and wanting to please/infuriate their respective partners. But feel free to avoid if Kell/Rhy of any sort bothers you.)

**Prelude: On the Night Spire**

The third time Kell ambushed her in the narrow passageway and dragged her back to their cabin, Lila waited until they were up against the wall, Kell’s mouth hot on her breast, her hands making swift work of his shirt, before she said it. ‘So. Rhy’s with Alucard?’

She’d done it for the look on his face, but part of her still regretted it when he drew back, aghast. ‘How did you know?’

‘You think I can’t tell the difference?’ She smiled wickedly. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m always happy to help make Rhy happy.’

Kell sat down heavily on the bed. Lila crossed her arms. She was beginning to learn that when Kell got like this, the key was to distract him: derail his train of thought before he could start blaming himself for all the problems in his life, including the ones that weren’t actually problems.

‘I mean it,’ she said, pushing him down onto his back and climbing on top of him. That was a start; he bit his lip and pushed up against her. Improvising, because she was still learning his body, still glorying in all the ways she could make him shake and shudder and call her name, she bent her head to his chest and licked him, teasing his nipple with her teeth. To her surprise, he writhed beneath her, a short cry escaping him.

She met his eyes, triumphant. ‘I didn’t know you liked that.’

‘Neither did I.’ He covered his shifting smile with his hand. ‘Rhy likes it.’

Lila watched the blush spread across his neck and felt a stab of strange desire. ‘That’s an interesting thing to know about your brother,’ she observed, turning her attention to his other nipple, sucking hard then flicking her tongue until he shuddered.

‘I — I’ve had to — ah! — learn a lot of things about Rhy that — that I never particularly wanted to know.’ Damn him, he was thinking again, desire subordinated to brooding. Lila sat up, sighing, as Kell looked down at his hands. ‘I miss him so much,’ he said. ‘And now, the only times I feel close to him are when he’s in pain, or — or this.’

‘Well,’ said Lila. ‘At least you know he’s happy?’

Kell laughed, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He drew himself back against the cabin wall, breath hitching. Lila imagined him feeling Alucard’s hands on Rhy’s body, and the hard knot of her desire tightened into something painful.

‘I did this to us,’ Kell said softly.

Lila shrugged. ‘I clearly remember telling you not to.’

Kell looked at her in astonishment. She laughed. ‘I’m joking. Rhy’s alive. And I’m the last person who’s going to judge you for finding an unorthodox way of making that happen.’ She took his hand and guided it between her legs. ’Now. Shall we not let those two have all the fun?’ She bit his earlobe — something that drove him crazy — and laughed as he swore and touched her, Rhy’s passion mingling with his own. The image of Rhy and Alucard, fucking somewhere in the palace back in Red London, danced in the back of Lila’s mind, fueling her desire, sparking an idea that wouldn’t leave her alone.

As she lay in Kell’s arms afterwards, sated and drifting towards sleep, she wondered. Would Kell ever agree to it? Would Rhy? Would Alucard?

She rolled over and pushed back against Kell, making him murmur in his sleep. Whatever the other three thought of her plan, it would have to wait until they were back in London.

 

**Ten Months Later: Red London**

They arrived in the middle of the night, the glow of the Isle licking at the ship’s keel as they tied her up in dock. By the time they got to the palace, the windows were dark. The guard on the steps stiffened as they approached, then gave a deep bow. ‘ _Mas vares_ ,’ he said. ‘Welcome home.’

Kell’s smile was tense. ‘I’m not a prince.’

‘His Majesty says you are,’ said the guard with a shrug. ‘His word’s good enough for me.’ He turned to the guard behind him. ‘Send to wake the king!’

‘No need,’ said Lila, and pinched Kell hard.

‘Ow!’ protested Kell, rubbing his neck.

‘He’s awake,’ said Lila with a smirk.

Shaking his head, the guard ushered them in. ‘The king still keeps his old chambers,’ he said as he accompanied them up the steps. ‘I can escort you —’

‘No need,’ said Kell. ‘I know the way.’

Lila looked sideways at Kell as they walked the halls of the sleeping palace. The last time they had been here, he had just lost both of his parents. His brow was furrowed, his posture more tense than she’d seen it in months. But as they passed his old room, his pace quickened. A smile broke out on his face as he knocked on the door of Rhy’s chambers.

‘Yes, come right in,’ said Alucard’s irritated voice. ‘It’s not like we were sleeping or anything.’

Kell opened the door. Alucard sat on the bed in a midnight blue dressing gown, looking grumpy and underslept. His cat Esa stalked towards Lila, arching her back. Lila met her eyes in warning, predator to predator.

Rhy turned from the balcony doors, face alight. As Kell crossed the room to his brother, Alucard stood and embraced Lila. ‘Bard,’ he said warmly. ‘I trust you brought my ship back in one piece?’

She pulled back, avoiding his eyes.

‘Bard?’ He was near panic.

Lila grinned. ‘She’s tied up in her usual berth at the docks.’ She clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Didn’t you trust me?’

‘It’s not you I don’t trust.’ Alucard looked darkly over her shoulder.

Rhy held his brother at arm’s length, looking him in the face. ‘You’ve seen it,’ he said. ‘I can tell.’

Kell nodded. ‘I missed you,’ he said, in a rush, and folded Rhy into an embrace so tight Lila thought they might asphyxiate each other.

Rhy buried his head in his brother’s neck. ‘Not as much as I missed you.’ They stayed there, locked together, as Rhy stroked Kell’s hair and whispered, ‘You’re home now. You’re home.’

Alucard rolled his eyes at Lila. ‘Shall we give these two a moment?’

They stepped through the doors onto the balcony that overlooked the Isle. Lila had a flash of the river black with Osaron’s corruption, of Kell diving from the roof to save Holland. Now, she looked into its red, glinting depths and recognized a part of herself.

‘So,’ said Alucard, leaning on the balustrade. ‘It seems you’ve been keeping Kell busy.’

She gave him a sideways look. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

Alucard gave an annoyed huff. ‘I mean, did you deliberately plan to fuck his brains out every time Rhy was in the middle of a royal audience?’

‘No.’ Lila grinned at the thought. ‘But if I’d known when those were, I would have.’

Alucard shook his head. ’The number of alcoves I’ve been swiftly pulled into during “a moment’s recess”…’

‘Doesn’t sound like you have anything to complain about.’

Alucard stared into the river. She imagined how it must look to his eyes: a blazing vein of light. ‘How much does Kell feel? When Rhy and I are together?’

She looked at him sideways. ‘Most of it.’

‘Sanct.’

‘What?’

He rubbed his face. ‘Just — having some disturbing realizations. About things Rhy enjoys that I don’t remember him enjoying a few years ago.’

‘The earlobe thing?’ Lila said, and he stared. She laughed. ‘That’s Kell, all right. Drives him wild.’

Alucard winced. ‘Thank you for that information, which is now in my mind forever.’

‘Pleasure. Remind me to thank Rhy sometime for his sensitive nipples.’

Alucard cast his eyes to the stars and laughed. ‘It’s an interesting situation we’re in with our respective royals, isn’t it, Bard?’

She grinned and leant into his shoulder. He put his arm around her, squeezing her briefly against him. She met his eyes, and a flicker of desire ran through her. To distract herself, she chipped at the balustrade with her knife, flicking a piece of stone down into the Isle. ‘Ever thought about what it’d be like to be with both of them together?’

Alucard flashed her a look as if she’d suggested something scandalous, immediately followed by a look that said _yes_. ‘Rhy wants to,’ he said. ‘But he doesn’t think Kell would agree to it.’

‘He wouldn’t. Not if we asked him upfront.’ Lila turned and looked through the glass doors at Kell. He was pressing his forehead against Rhy’s, their eyes bright with tears. ‘But if it started happening, and he was there — I don’t think he’d say no.’

Alucard looked at her with the exasperated amusement he’d worn when he’d found out she was entering the Essen Tasch. ‘Bard. What are you planning?’

She winked and pressed her finger to her lips. They went back inside just as Rhy said, ‘There will, of course, be a state dinner in honour of your return.’

Kell groaned and turned to Lila. ‘Isn’t there some pressing reason we have to go back to sea immediately?’

‘No,’ she said with a sharp smile, and went to greet Rhy. He kissed her warmly on the cheek. He smelt of flowers, like Kell, but with a different underlying musk that sparked against her senses. She pulled back and looked into his eyes, tawny and bright with an excitement that reflected her own. ’I think we’re overdue a party.’

*

Like magic, sex hadn’t been part of Lila’s life until recently. And like magic, once she had discovered how good she was at it, she never wanted to stop. 

The connection she had with Kell was endlessly fascinating: a strange new world she could explore forever and not get bored. But watching Alucard whisper in Rhy’s ear, making the king’s dark skin glow with a blush, her pulse ached for more, more, more.

She drained her glass and looked sideways at Kell. After months of being himself — whooping by her side at the ship’s rail, hair wild from the sea-spray; running down alleys in cities halfway across the empire, drinking dubious brews in yet more dubious taverns — now, he looked like a prince again. Dressed in red, he sat between her and Rhy at the state dinner, wearing the crest of the Maresh crown. She could see him chafing under it: the way all eyes turned on him, with the same old mix of awe and terror.

What Lila wanted, she wanted for Kell, too. She wanted to show him that the joy and abandon he’d felt on their travels could be his again, here in the palace. She wanted to remind him that returning to Red London brought opportunities, as well as costs: that his connection with Rhy, and the complications it brought to their relationship, could be a gift, not a curse. Her eyes wandered to the white streak in his hair, the furrow between his brows that was becoming permanent.

Sensing her scrutiny, he met her gaze.

She’d worn a dress: not because she looked better in it than her usual trousers and captain’s shirt, but because it was different, and she knew it would make Kell stare. It worked. His eyes traveled down her body, and when they met hers again they were hungry.

‘Patience,’ she whispered in his ear, her lips brushing his skin. She felt him shiver.

‘Another hour,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Then we can leave this dinner and go to bed.’

‘Not quite. We’re invited to Rhy’s chambers for a nightcap.’

He considered. ‘It would be nice to talk without half the city staring at us.’ He gave her a rare, dark smile. ‘But I’d rather be alone with you.’

‘You’ve been alone with me for most of a year. There’s nothing wrong with a little variety.’ She sipped her wine.

Kell gave her a look of foreboding. She lowered her glass. ‘What?’

‘I know that look. What are you planning?’

She flashed him a grin. ‘Finish your dinner, princeling.’

When the last course had been cleared away, the four of them left the high table. Their guard halted with a discreet bow at the hallway that led to Rhy’s chambers.

‘So,’ said Alucard, sidling up to Lila as Rhy fell back to fling his arm around Kell’s shoulders. ‘What’s your bet? Mine is he flees as soon as he figures out what’s happening.’

Lila stole a look at Kell over her shoulder. ‘I’ll take that bet.’

‘What’s the stake?’

‘The Night Spire.’

Alucard laughed aloud. ‘Bard. Be serious.’

‘Fine. A hundred _lin_.’

‘Done.’ They shook hands quickly. Alucard smirked as he threw open the door to Rhy’s chambers. ‘My prince,’ he said, bowing deeply to Kell as he walked past. Kell gave him a suspicious look.

As soon as Alucard closed the door, Rhy’s shoulders dropped with relief. He fell back onto the couch, taking off his crown and lobbing it with apparent abandon towards a cushion on the sideboard, where it landed perfectly.

‘Is that how you show respect to the crown of Arnes?’ said Kell in mock disapproval.

‘Don’t talk to your king that way.’ Rhy stared, appearing to see his brother for the first time. ‘Kell, I don’t mean to alarm you, but — your glass appears to be empty.’

Kell’s hand went to the back of his neck. ‘Lila and I were —’ he began, looking sideways at her.

‘Wondering what we have to do to get some service around here.’ Lila clicked her fingers at Alucard, who made an obscene gesture and threw a bottle at her head. She caught it easily and uncorked it, tilting the bottle in one smooth motion to fill Kell’s glass.

Rhy was grinning at her in open admiration. She eyed him up and down as she raised her glass. ‘To the King,’ she said, with a wink.

Rhy raised his glass and winked back at her. She felt a shiver of desire.

‘The King,’ echoed Alucard. He downed half his wine and grabbed Rhy, bending him over for a deep, possessive kiss.

Lila laughed. Kell scowled. She jabbed him in the ribs. He completed the toast, raising his glass to his brother. ‘The King,’ he said, with a half-sad smile.

*

To Lila’s surprise, the ruse about a nightcap turned out not to be a ruse. Kell was right: after being apart for so long, it felt good to speak their minds to each other in private. Lila sat on the floor by Kell’s chair, head resting against his leg, as he asked quiet questions about Arnesian politics. Rhy gave answers that were alternately serious and sarcastic, with Alucard as his ribald chorus. Then the topic turned to some new courtier who Alucard claimed had designs on the king’s affections. Rhy protested that he didn’t, and the two began a half-flirting argument that Lila and Kell couldn’t follow. Instead, they started talking just to each other, until they were so absorbed that when Kell tapped her on the arm and pointed, Lila wondered what could have distracted him.

She turned to see Rhy and Alucard on the couch, kissing passionately, Rhy’s hand already sliding under Alucard’s shirt.

‘I think it’s time we went,’ said Kell in a low voice.

Lila shook her head. ‘They didn’t tell us to go.’

Kell looked at her, bewildered, the beginnings of panic in his face. ‘Lila —’

She turned away, settling back against his leg to watch.

It was quite the show. Alucard seemed to have forgotten Kell and Lila were there: he was focused entirely on Rhy, with a single-minded desire that made Lila ache. Rhy was a different matter. Lila could tell that he liked to be watched: she supposed that came in handy when you were king. As Alucard kissed his way down his neck, peeling off his shirt, Rhy threw his head back, eyes closed, the picture of the debauched royal.

She glanced back at Kell. He was staring at Rhy and Alucard like he couldn’t look away, even if he wanted to. As Lila followed his gaze, Alucard’s hand went to Rhy’s cock, stroking him through his clothes. Kell made an almost inaudible sound in his throat.

‘Look,’ said Rhy softly, head thrown back, eyes locked with Kell’s. ‘Look what you’re doing to him.’

Lila felt it like a scale tipping. Until this moment, they had been interlopers, voyeurs of Rhy and Alucard’s tableau. Now, they were unambiguously invited to participate. Alucard’s eyes raked over Kell where he lay in the chair, wine glass cradled loosely in his hand, cheeks flushed. Lila felt an ache of desire pulling at her like the tide.

Alucard shook his head and smiled. ‘Bard, for saints’ sakes, take pity on him.’

*

Lila straddled Kell in the chair, tilting his head up towards her. He was already hard, and his blue eye was clouded with desire. But uncertainty flickered across his face, making her hold back. Sometimes, on their travels, she’d pushed him too far, made him do things he’d later regretted. Since then, she had consciously been trying to test his limits rather than force them.

‘If you don’t want to,’ she started — but before she could finish, he pulled her down to his mouth.

He kissed her with an abandon that thrilled her. She wondered if he’d been thinking about this too: if, when he had followed her into Rhy and Alucard’s chambers, he’d known exactly what the three of them had planned. The thought ran down her spine and settled hot between her legs. She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and started on the innumerable buttons on his formal shirt. With a frustrated growl, she pulled a knife from her boot and sliced it open, baring his chest. Kell chuckled, low and warm.

‘See? Didn’t I bet you Bard would use knives in the bedroom?’ said Alucard.

‘Yes. And I didn’t bet against you,’ said Rhy lazily. ‘So don’t say that like I owe you money.’

Lila slid her hand down to take Kell’s cock in her hand. He arched his back to her touch. She heard an answering gasp behind her, and turned her head to watch Rhy bite his lip and moan with Kell’s pleasure. It was delicious, seeing what she’d imagined so many times: both of them in her power, both of them hers to enjoy.

‘Come on, Antari. Put your backs into it,’ heckled Alucard.

Kell undid Lila’s bodice, ran his fingers lightly up her back, took her nipple in his mouth. She gasped as he slid his hand under her skirts, to where she was already slick and wet and full of want. He slid his fingers inside her. She rode his touch as he rubbed his thumb against her clit, sparking with the thrill of knowing Alucard and Rhy were watching.

More than watching. A hot kiss on her neck, arms wrapping around her waist. Rhy’s voice in her ear. ‘May I cut in?’

‘No need to cut in,’ she said with a smile, arching back into him. ‘There’s plenty of room for two.’

*

Lila gasped, consumed with the sensations of Rhy’s and Kell’s hands on her, Kell’s mouth on hers while Rhy bit tenderly at her neck. Rhy unlaced her skirts and they fell in a pool of silk on the floor. Kell kissed her belly, and Rhy reached between her legs and touched her there, making her buck and gasp.

Kell drew back, and Rhy came closer, leaning his chin on her shoulder. Then Kell’s hands came to her hips, turning her gently towards Rhy.

Lila had kissed Alucard, once; she had kissed Kell over and over, would never tire of kissing him. But Rhy, she had never kissed. She did it now, opening her mouth and sliding her tongue deep, thrilling at how he melted for her. With Kell, Lila was in charge, but sometimes he challenged that dominance, turned their lovemaking into a battle. Already, she sensed it wouldn’t be that way with Rhy. Rhy wanted to be adored, to be possessed.

‘Beautiful boy,’ she murmured, and Rhy shivered with pleasure.

She relieved him of the rest of his clothes with a hunger that surprised her. She felt she had known him already, his quick-rising desire that made Kell fast and desperate where he usually burned slow. Matching his eagerness, she drew him to the bed and pulled him down on top of her. She knew, too, that Rhy wouldn’t have Kell’s intensity, the sense every time she was with him that this _mattered_ , that nothing would ever be quite so important again. He was more like her: consumed with the moment, determined to ride it for all it was worth. 

With a sudden pang, she looked over Rhy’s shoulder and met Kell’s eyes. He didn’t look jealous. He looked dazed, and aroused, and a little sad: although, since Osaron, that part of him had never been far from the surface.

‘Don’t worry,’ said Rhy. ‘He’s enjoying this. I know.’

Kell raised his glass to them and drank deep. Rhy hovered over her, punctuating his sentences with kisses. ‘Lila,’ he said. His attention was like the sun, and she basked in it. She had an inkling of what it must have been like to be Kell, growing up in that light; how he must have felt to be starved of it for the long months they were separated. ‘I love how happy you make my brother. I love knowing that you’re there to protect him, to keep him safe.’ Her hand coiled in the hair at the nape of Rhy’s neck as he kissed her deeply, their tongues twining together. With a wicked smile, he added, ‘I love how much pleasure you give him.’

She laughed and pulled him closer, luxuriating in his hands moving down her naked body, his hard cock against her thigh. His pulse thundered with Kell’s desire and with his own. Lila ached for him, this impossible boy, his beautiful body and his borrowed heart.

Alucard was looking between Kell and Rhy with a kind of dazed wonder. ‘I wish you could all see this,’ he said, his voice low with awe.

For a moment, Lila didn’t understand. Then she realized: he was seeing the threads of magic that bound Kell and Rhy together. She imagined a pulse of pleasure traveling along one of those shining threads as she took Rhy’s cock in her hand, guided him between her legs.

‘Are you sure?’ said Rhy, his mouth hovering over hers.

‘Yes,’ she said.

Rhy looked back at his brother.

‘Yes,’ said Kell, his eyes half-closed with pleasure.

Lila watched Kell’s face as Rhy entered her, saw him gasp and rock back in the chair. For a moment, she felt like she was intruding on something sacred. Then her desire caught up with her. She moaned and pulled Rhy into her, wrapping her legs around him. When she turned her head she saw Kell, eyes closed in ecstasy, shaking with Rhy’s every thrust.

Rhy kissed her ear and whispered, ‘We’re the two people he loves most in the world. Can you imagine what this feels like for him?’ She shuddered at it: Rhy’s simple confidence in Kell’s love, as if love wasn’t terrifying, as if it wasn’t a set of bonds around the heart.

She brought her lips to Rhy’s ear. ‘Let’s see if we can make him come.’

She hooked her legs over Rhy’s shoulders and he drove into her deeper, making her cry out. Kell loved it when she was loud. She pushed back against Rhy’s thrusts, tensing around him, making him groan. He sped up, beginning to lose control.

‘Rhy,’ said Kell in a strained voice. ‘Stop.’

Rhy withdrew, shuddering. Lila realised: he was close, they both were, and Kell didn’t want to come yet. She knew Rhy well enough to suspect that he didn’t enjoy denying himself pleasure. But at Kell’s word, he rolled onto his back, breathing hard, bringing himself back under control.

Alucard was still watching, standing against the wall sipping his wine. Kell was still in the chair where Lila had left him, toying with his empty glass. Lila looked expectantly between them. ‘Well?’

*

Kell looked at Lila and realized what she was asking. His eyes went wide. ‘Absolutely not,’ he said.

‘Kell,’ Lila protested, but Rhy kissed her cheek and murmured, ‘Leave it to me.’ He got up from the bed and went to his brother. Rhy was naked and hard, but Kell’s eyes never left his face as Rhy ran his hand over Kell’s cheek, cupped his chin in his hand. ‘For me,’ he said.

Kell laughed. Then he drained his glass, a little showily, and stood up. Rhy came back to the bed and lay next to Lila, bestowing a kiss on her shoulder. Alucard waited, sipping his own wine as Kell crossed the room towards him.

‘I’m not going to take any pleasure in this,’ said Kell.

‘Oh, but you already have.’ Alucard grinned wolfishly. ‘You think I don’t know when I’m pleasing Rhy and when I’m pleasing you?’ He leaned closer to Kell. ‘I know what you like.’ He took Kell’s earlobe in his teeth. Kell stiffened and gasped. Next to Lila on the bed, Rhy moaned quietly.

Alucard pulled back, his hand ghosting across Kell’s chest. ‘You know, I always wondered why you worked so hard to keep Rhy and me apart. I used to think it was because you had a thing for your brother.’ Kell’s hand jerked towards Alucard’s throat. Alucard caught it, gripping his wrist as he ground out, ‘But now I think maybe you wanted me for yourself.’

Kell broke free of Alucard’s grip. Alucard lifted his hand, the wine from his glass rising as an icy spear that flew towards Kell. Lila sat up, wondering if this was going to turn into another round of the Essen Tasch. But Kell didn’t meet magic with magic. Instead, he knocked Alucard’s spear aside with his hand, smashing it against the wall. Ever since Osaron’s defeat, Lila had noticed Kell didn’t use his magic unless it was absolutely necessary. She wondered if nearly losing it to the Inheritor had made him afraid: made him want to reassure himself he could survive without it. Whatever the reason, it had improved his skill at fighting hand to hand. Alucard had had no such practice. He dodged too late, and Kell slammed him back to the wall, hand at his throat.

Alucard stared, his breath constricted, his dark skin flushed. His eyes drifted closed, and a shudder moved through him. Lila realised at the same time Kell did: Alucard was getting off on this. Kell smiled, quick and dangerous: an expression that reminded her he was someone to be feared. A delicious shiver ran across her.

‘You want this,’ Kell said softly.

Alucard stared at him, chest rising and falling as he struggled in Kell’s grip.

‘Say yes,’ said Kell, leaning closer, his eyes flickering down to Alucard’s mouth.

‘Fuck you,’ breathed Alucard, and they came together in a violent, crushing kiss. Kell pinned Alucard with his body. Lila couldn’t tell if Alucard’s bucking movements were his attempt to escape, or to find the best angle for him and Kell to grind against each other.

‘Christ,’ she said. ‘Are they fucking or fighting?’

Next to her, Rhy moaned helplessly, ‘Do you think it’s possible to die from being too turned on?’

‘Not for you,’ Lila reminded him, guiding his hand between her legs. ‘Spare a thought for those of us who are still among the living.’

Rhy touched her frantically, biting down gently on her shoulder. Lila watched Kell and Alucard go at each other, bucked against Rhy’s hand, and came, quaking with the force of it.

Rhy smiled and kissed her neck. ‘Sometimes I wish Kell was a girl, so I could know what that feels like.’

Lila grinned at him, aftershocks pulsing through her. ‘Now there’s an interesting thought.’

Alucard had Kell up against the wall, one wrist pinned, but Kell broke free, cuffing him across the face. Alucard touched his cheek, laughing. ‘You know, you’re nothing like your brother,’ he gasped. ‘He loves it when I pin him down and —’

Kell growled and surged forward, knocking Alucard to the ground. Rhy pushed Lila off the bed. ‘Do something. Before they murder each other.’

‘My turn,’ she said, stepping in front of Kell. The sight of him, angry and aroused, went to the core of her. She stepped forward and kissed him, long and lingering. ‘My,’ she reminded him, ‘turn.’

He groaned with need, fingers on her hips hard enough to bruise. Lila stood, swaying, still hot between her legs from Rhy’s touch, drinking in Kell’s needy, desire-drunk gaze. Alucard came up behind her, his hand trailing lightly down her back. She felt wild, powerful, immense. She felt like she could fuck all three of them dry and still be hungry after.

She stepped close to Kell, fitted her body against his. ‘You don’t come till I say,’ she whispered in his ear. He shuddered. She stepped away from him and went to Alucard.

*

He was the only one of them still clothed. It didn’t diminish Lila’s power that she wasn’t. His eyes trailed down her body, but she walked up to him like she was starting a fight.

‘Now, Bard,’ he said, with a rakish grin. ‘Where were we?’

Kell frowned. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Kell. Stop making it so easy for him. Come here,’ said Rhy imperiously, ordering his brother to the bed. He went unwillingly, looking darkly back at Lila and Alucard as Rhy gathered him in and kissed his cheek.

Lila ran her hands over Alucard’s shoulders, down his back. She captured his mouth with hers. He tasted how she remembered, of spice and adventure and the first stirrings of her own magic. His left hand slid up to her breast, teased her nipple, as his right found the wet heat between her legs. She gasped and broke the kiss, voicing her pleasure. It gave her a special thrill knowing that this would tug at Kell in a different way from seeing her with Rhy. That had been freely given, in recognition that everything that was his was Rhy’s and everything that was Rhy’s was his. To Alucard, he had no such obligation.

She freed Alucard’s cock without undressing him, and he pulled her close. ‘Turn around,’ he said in her ear.

She bristled. ‘Not in a thousand years.’

‘It’ll drive him crazy.’ His lips trailed across her ear, his hot breath on her neck making her shiver. He whispered, ‘We both know you’re the one who’s really in charge here.’

‘Don’t forget it.’ She bit his neck, then stepped away from him, pressing her hands against the wall. She turned her head over her shoulder. Alucard pressed up against her, slipping his cock between her thighs, the slick ease of it maddening.

‘So, Bard,’ he said, with a laugh in his voice, loud enough now for Kell to hear. ‘What can I do for you?’

She closed her eyes, because she wanted to taste each one of them, wanted more, more, more. ‘Fuck me.’

He hovered, teasing her until she was ready to knife him. ‘Only if you ask nicely.’

She was about to turn and strangle him when she remembered the goal was to drive Kell crazy. She gritted her teeth. ‘Please.’

He laughed and relented, letting her guide him inside her. She moaned and backed needily into him, turning her head, enjoying how Kell was looking daggers at them, even as Rhy laughed and squeezed his shoulders.

‘Ohh,’ said Alucard with a strangled sound. ‘We really should have done this sooner.’

She laughed at Kell’s growl, relishing the feel of Alucard inside her. She loved how this position meant she could feel all of him, how his every thrust lit her up with sensation. She pushed back against him, refusing submission, fucking him as hard as he was fucking her. Alucard reached around to rub her clit as he thrust into her. She met Kell’s eyes, saw the hatred and the desire there, and came, hard, waves of it pounding her.

When she could think again, she pushed back against Alucard’s shoulder. ‘Stop,’ she said. ‘Save yourself for Rhy.’

*

‘I appreciate the thought,’ said Rhy unsteadily, ’but I don’t think I can save myself for anyone much longer.’

They turned back to the bed. Rhy’s arms were around Kell’s neck, and their hands were linked, stroking each other’s fingers absently. Rhy wore the same sex-drunk look he’d had since this had started. Kell looked half-sick with arousal, like part of him had enjoyed watching Lila with Alucard, but another part of him hated himself for enjoying it.

‘Time to go back where we belong?’ he said, looking at Lila.

‘Not quite,’ said Rhy, smiling at his brother. Lila stared: she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him look _shy_ before.

Alucard frowned. ‘I don’t think that’s necessary.’

Lila looked at the two of them on the bed, draped over each other, and desire rose in her, sudden and surprising. ’Yes,’ she said. ‘I want to see you together.’

Alucard shot her a look she ignored. Kell met her eyes. Whatever else he saw there, he saw her need, and didn’t question it.

Rhy raised an eyebrow. ‘Well. I’d hate to disappoint Delilah Bard.’

‘It tends to be a fatal move,’ Kell agreed.

There was a moment of awkwardness, where Lila thought Kell would turn away, refuse. Then Rhy lay down, reaching out his hand. Kell took it, and Rhy pulled him down to him, laughing softly as their mouths came together.

They were hesitant, at first; then something changed, loosened, and they were kissing like lovers, slow and sweet. Lila stared, trying to understand what she was seeing, why she had needed it so badly. It wasn’t desire, like the fire that danced between Alucard and Rhy, or between her and Kell; it wasn’t even the sexual curiosity that flowed between her and Alucard. It was love, definite as the ground beneath. She watched them kiss, tender and selfless, each focused purely on giving the other pleasure. She’d thought there was a line between the kind of love Kell and Rhy shared and the kind where you lay together and kissed until you were both aching. But maybe, she thought, it was more like the elements: each blending into the other, a continuum that was one thing to those who could see it. She watched earth dancing on the edge of fire. Their mouths were the only part of them that touched. Rhy’s hands were behind his back; Kell’s kneaded the bedsheets like a cat, with the same tender, savage contentment.

Lila wasn’t immune to the thrill of taboo that came from watching the two brothers kiss, open-mouthed and sensual, but she felt something else, too: an ache that came from their comfort with each other, their obvious joy in their closeness. The sadness lent depth to her desire. She crossed the room to Alucard, who was watching with hateful fascination. She backed against his chest and reached to pull his cock between her legs. She rocked against him, and he groaned at how wet she was.

‘You like to watch,’ he said in mock-condemnation.

‘So do you. Don’t deny it.’ She went on tiptoes and curved back to whisper in his ear. ‘You hate it, but you love it. You can’t look away.’

‘Why would I want to look away from all my insecurities brought to vivid, arousing life?’ 

Lila watched Rhy smile a deep, secret smile, Kell laughing quietly and disbelievingly into his mouth. She imagined the threads pulsing between them, echoes of pleasure passing back and forth. ‘What do they look like to you?’ she asked Alucard.

Alucard stared. ‘Like a fucking constellation,’ he said softly.

Rhy made a deep sound of contentment, and Alucard shuddered. Lila followed his movement, tilting her spine until with each rocking thrust, he was nearly inside her.

‘We could fuck right here and they wouldn’t even notice,’ said Alucard. His hands went to her hips. For a dark, cold moment, Lila wanted him to lift her up and turn her around, wanted to ride him against the wall until it obliterated her loneliness. But that wasn’t how she wanted this night to end.

‘I have a better idea,' she said.

She slid onto the bed and wrapped her arms around Kell from behind, kissing his neck. Alucard did the same, pressing up against Rhy’s back, reaching around him to take his cock in his hand. The shudder of pleasure ran through Kell and Rhy together. They broke apart, gasping, and Lila took Kell’s hand and guided it between her legs.

He groaned and rolled onto his back, reaching for her. She lowered herself onto him and rode him, hard and desperate. Alucard pulled Rhy back into him, jerking him off as he tenderly bit his neck. Lila threw her head back and cried out, as if all their pleasure was moving through her, focused on the point where Kell thrust helplessly up into her.

‘Now,’ she said. One of his hands was on her face, his finger in her mouth; his other reached out to meet Rhy’s, grasping it as they came, both of them at the same moment, crying out together in ecstasy.

Kell collapsed beneath her, obliterated with pleasure. She took his face between her hands. ‘Please,’ she said, throbbing with need. He turned her over, kissed his way down her body, dove between her legs to finish her. Lila lay, twisting the sheets between her fingers, and watched Rhy going down on Alucard, watched him let go as Kell’s mouth and tongue brought her to a final, shattering climax.

It took a while for the world to come back. Lila felt sated, warm, heavenly. She lay cradled between Kell and Rhy, Kell’s arm around her, Rhy’s hand tangled in her hair, Alucard’s fingers brushing her belly where his arm lay across Rhy’s chest.

‘This,’ said Rhy, his voice melting, ‘was a fucking good idea.’

‘It was,’ Alucard agreed, his eyes meeting Lila’s over Rhy’s shoulder.

‘Which reminds me,’ said Lila. ‘You owe me a hundred _lin_.’

Kell lifted his head, suddenly alert. ‘ _What_?’


End file.
